


Stanky Bean

by Gammarad



Series: Writing Rainbow Works [8]
Category: Gunnerkrigg Court
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Food, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23539240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gammarad/pseuds/Gammarad
Summary: Kat works on making the robots' new organic bodies the best they can possibly be. Robot assists her.
Relationships: Katerina Donlan & Robot
Series: Writing Rainbow Works [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558441
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Robot Rainbow 2020





	Stanky Bean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ried (riiiied)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riiiied/gifts).



"You want to call yourself Pheasant?" Kat said doubtfully to the latest robot she'd created a fully organic body for. The robot had chosen a middle height, middle coloring sort of body, shades of medium to light brown for skin, hair, eyes, everything. Even the initial set of clothing. 

"People often use types of animals as names, don't they? Don't we, I mean," the person, the ex-robot, Pheasant, said doubtfully, moving a hand closer to get a more detailed look at the new fingers and joints. "There is so much more feeling in the hands than the upper arms, why?"

That, Kat could explain. "There's a map," she said, her enthusiasm growing as she got into a subject she'd spent countless hours working on. "It connects each neuron, that's the bits that carry the messages from each part of your new body to your brain, you see? They're your new sensors and wiring! So, it connects each one to both perception and action, so you can use feedback for finer control. That's the key with this kind of body, the feedback loops. They're --" her technical terms got too detailed for this record but trust that they were entirely both accurate and informative to the patient Pheasant who hung on every word. She was the angel, after all.

Their angel, the robots' angel, Kat was, the one who had come to give them their path into ascension and into freedom.

Her technical explanation wound down and she knew it was time for Pheasant to put all that theory into practice. "Would you like to try swimming?" There was a large swimming pool in the lower level of the underground cavern where she'd set up, created by several of the best builders among the robots for their newly organic brethren to practice in. "Or eating? You've got the sensory apparatus to both smell and taste food now, and while your body doesn't require it exactly the way a human or animal body would, you can get the energy you need from food if you do eat it, so it won't be wasted." 

Flavor was kind of mind-blowing to robots that were new to the experience. Kat found it entertaining to watch how much they enjoyed their first bite of cheese or of chocolate. Some of her friends liked to make weird snacks for the robots to see what they thought. The robots often actually liked the apple slices with mustard or the lettuce rolls filled with marshmallow fluff or the other strange treats. Or they didn't know enough about food to know the difference, only that it was exciting new experiences to taste them.

She was trying to work on it. Even though it was not exactly a problem that the robots enjoyed food that humans wouldn't, Kat wanted to fix it. Because she knew some of the robots, the ones with close human friends or even romantic partners, wanted to be able to share all the experiences with those friends. Even, maybe, to be able to cook a meal for their human friends that the friends would enjoy eating. And that required a sense of taste that was closer to a human's.

"You're sure you don't mind testing this, Robot?" Kat asked. "It's going to mean things will taste bad. Like, really awful."

"I don't mind," Robot said. He had suffered worse than unpleasant tastes as her experimental subject. It had all been worth it, to be able to be a key part of providing all of his kind with this miracle of life.

"I couldn't do it without you," Kat said. 

Robot smiled, and took a bite of something called natto. The taste fractalized into a hundred shapes and patterns, textures and colors. He began to describe it to her, and as he did so, she made minute adjustments that shifted and stirred the patterns and colors into new geometries. It was an ocean all in a single, wonderful, terrible flavor. 

Miracles come in all sizes.


End file.
